Defamation suit to proceed

Suspended District Judge Elizabeth Halverson's former secretary should be allowed to proceed with her defamation lawsuit, one of Halverson's colleagues ruled Thursday.

District Judge David Wall denied Halverson's motion to dismiss Ileen Spoor's lawsuit. Wall found that Halverson's statements to the media that Spoor illegally fixed tickets may have been defamatory and may have cast Spoor in a false light.

Spoor filed the lawsuit in May, arguing that Halverson falsely launched the allegations to deflect attention from her own troubles in the public.

"She conducted her office in what can be described as a disgraceful manner and she needed to cover that up," said James Adams, Spoor's attorney.

Halverson's lawyer argued that the case should be dismissed because Halverson was exercising her constitutional right of free speech when she told local media that staff members were conducting illegal activities.

"Judge Halverson has an absolute right to speak her opinion," her attorney, Robert Spretnak, said after the hearing.

In the courtroom, he had argued that a judge has immunity to speak about the law even outside the courthouse.

Wall, however, ruled that immunity, which provides judges with protection from recrimination for legal decisions, applies only within the courtroom.

Halverson, who was suspended by the Judicial Discipline Commission while that body investigates complaints regarding her competency and treatment of staff, was not in court Thursday. She has declined the Review-Journal's interview requests.

She fired Spoor on May 9 after she found a "Quick Fix" file containing traffic tickets from Spoor's friends and family. The judge also found e-mails sent by Spoor indicating that Spoor helped get people out of jury duty.

In May, Halverson launched allegations that Spoor was fixing tickets. She told the local media that she informed court administrators about the potential illegal behavior, and she publicly questioned why they had not punished Spoor for her actions.

Spoor now works as a roving judicial executive assistant and currently is assigned to the senior judge replacing Halverson while she is on paid suspension.

Spoor's ongoing employment with the court will make it difficult to prove that she suffered any damage as a result of Halverson's statements, Spretnak said.

Spoor has said she did nothing illegal. She simply passed traffic tickets along to attorneys who handled the tickets in traffic court, as a favor, she said.

The attorneys she worked with have said that they receive tickets from friends and colleagues all the time because they frequent the courthouse. The lawyers said they are able to obtain the same ticket reductions given to the anybody else who makes the effort to come to traffic court.

Court officials investigated Spoor's e-mails and concluded that she did not "fix" or have tickets eliminated from the system, Court Executive Officer Chuck Short said.

Spoor also has said that she helped people delay jury duty because of scheduling conflicts.

Spoor testified at the Judicial Discipline Commission's July 16 hearing regarding Halverson.

In their decision to suspend the judge, commissioners said there was no indication that Spoor acted illegally, but they noted: "Spoor's inappropriate use of county time to help friends and others locate counsel to assist them in traffic matters in limited jurisdiction courts was not the business of district court."

Short said he could not comment on any discipline Spoor might have received. "It's considered a personnel matter," he said.

Court documents published on the state's Supreme Court Web site detail allegations against the newly elected Halverson from her former staff, attorneys and other judges that she is incompetent to conduct criminal trials and mistreated her staff, including complaints that she fell asleep at the bench, called staff derogatory names and had her bailiff massage her feet.

Halverson is obese and suffers from osteoarthritis in her feet and knees, which makes it difficult for her to walk. She uses a scooter to get around.

In an affidavit Halverson filed with the court, she said the bailiff massaged her feet on his own accord. "I was shocked when he did so," she wrote in the June 25 document. "I told him in no uncertain terms that this was inappropriate. The bailiff said that he wanted to do so to help me."

Tickets from the "Quick Fix" file and e-mails that Halverson found at Spoor's desk also are included with the affidavit.

Notes from friends express gratitude to Spoor, and others ask how much they owe. One note from a friend states, "I owe you big time so give me a call and let me know what I can do for you."

In some of the e-mails, Spoor says she is growing increasingly frustrated with Halverson, and Spoor predicts Halverson's downfall.

Following an April hearing with three veteran judges at which Halverson's former staff complained about Halverson, Spoor wrote her former boss, Supreme Court Judge Michael Cherry, "If a reliable source would go to the media, she would end up being removed due to public outrage if nothing else."